Green meetings : ecolabelling of sustainable events in conference and business tourism

Die wachsende wirtschaftliche Bedeutung von Konferenz- und Geschäftstourismus und die damit verbundenen Events, gehen mit negativen Konsequenzen für die Umwelt einher. Eine Methode diese Events nachhaltiger zu gestalten, ist die sogenannte Ökozertifizierung von Green Meetings. Ökozertifizierung, auch Ecolabelling genannt, ist weitverbreitet, um Nachhaltigkeit in der Tourismusbranche zu fördern. Empirische Forschung hat sich mit der Wahrnehmung von Ecolabels, sowie Anreizen und Hemmungsgründen für bzw. gegen Ökozertifizierung von Tourismusbetrieben auseinandergesetzt. Für das spezielle Segment von Green Meetings sind solche Forschungen noch ausständig. Als Fallbeispiel dient die wissenschaftliche Konferenz „Forests for People 2012“, die im Congress Centrum Alpbach in Tirol abgehalten und mit dem staatlich geführten „Österreichischen Umweltzeichen für Green Meetings“ ausgezeichnet wurde. Mittels eines Sets qualitativer und quantitativer Forschungsmethoden, wurde die Wahrnehmung des Kongresszentrumsmanagers, des Eventorganisationsteams, und der Konferenzteilnehmer erforscht. Die Wahrnehmung der ersten beiden Akteure wurde mittels Experteninterview und Extraktionsanalyse erhoben. Für die Konferenzteilnehmer wurde ein standardisierter Fragenbogen verwendet und statistisch analysiert. Die Ergebnisse zeigen den Bekanntheitsgrad des „Umweltzeichens für Green Meetings“, die Wahrnehmung eines als Green Meeting zertifizierten Events, sowie den damit verbundenen Nutzen und Gründe für eine Zertifizierung auf. Weiterhin wird die Wahrnehmung des Zertifizierungsprozesses und die Rolle des Kongresszentrums dargestellt. Zusätzlich werden die begrenzten Möglichkeiten bezüglich einer umweltfreundlichen Anreise eingegangen. Zukünftige Forschung sollte sich dem Ökozertifizierungsprozess von Green Meetings in einem breiteren Rahmen annehmen, um die Erfahrungen von verschiedenen Green Meetings, Eventorganisatoren und Kongresszentren zu beleuchten.Conference and business tourism is of increasing economic importance and the negative environmental impact of its associated events is significant. One method to make these events more sustainable is the so-called ecolabelling of green meetings. Ecolabelling is a common tool for the advancement of sustainability in the tourism industry and empirical research has been dedicated to the perception of ecolabels, as well as incentives and inhibitors of joining ecolabelling schemes. For the special segment of green meetings such research is pending, therefore this study is dedicated to the perception of ecolabelled green meetings and their ecolabelling process. As a case study serves the scientific conference ‘Forests for People 2012 hosted at the Congress Centrum Alpbach in Tyrol, Austria, which was awarded with the governmental run ‘Austrian Ecolabel for Green Meetings. A set of qualitative and quantitative research methods is employed to investigate the perception of the congress facility manager, the organisation team, and the conference attendees. The manger of the congress facility and the green meeting appointee of the organisation team are interviewed via expert interviews and their transcripts analysed with extraction. For the conference attendees a standardised questionnaire and statistical analysis is used. The results reveal the level of awareness concerning the existence of the ecolabel and the perception of an ecolabelled green meeting including its associated benefits. Further the perception of the ecolabelling process itself, the organisation teams reasons pursuing ecolabelling, as well as the congress facilitys role in the ecolabelling process and limitations of encouraging environmentally friendly travel are reported. It is recommended that future research investigates green meetings and their ecolabelling process on a broader scope, to get hold of the experiences of various green meeting attendees, organisation teams, and congress facilities.author: Lea Maria RanacherZsfassung in dt. SpracheWien, Univ. für Bodenkultur, Masterarb., 2013(VLID)103638

The Role of the Social Licence to Operate in the Emerging Bioeconomy—A Case Study of Short-Rotation Coppice Poplar in Slovakia

Wood plays a key role in the endeavours of the EU to establish a circular bioeconomy based on renewable biological resources. Today, forestry on its own cannot sustainably satisfy the demand for woody biomass. Short-Rotation Coppice (SRC) represents a possible alternative production system where fast-growing tree species are cultivated on agricultural land. Thus far, lacking engagement from farmers and public opposition against other bioenergy projects have hindered the expansion of SRC. At the same time, society does not consider wood unconditionally sustainable anymore. The Social License to Operate (SLO) describes the dynamic relationship between industries, their communities, and other stakeholders. The present study adapted a quantitative SLO model based on integrative socio-psychological relationship modelling and applied it to a case study in Slovakia. The roles of trust, fairness, impact assessment, and governance hold for the establishment of social acceptance were analysed with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The model revealed the perception of individual benefits as the strongest predictor for social acceptance. The average level of social acceptance was found to be between “Acceptance” and “Approval”. The results thus show that SRC currently must not face societal pressure in Slovakia. However, the SLO is not static and must be constantly re-evaluated

The Role of the Social Licence to Operate in the Emerging Bioeconomy—A Case Study of Short-Rotation Coppice Poplar in Slovakia

Wood plays a key role in the endeavours of the EU to establish a circular bioeconomy based on renewable biological resources. Today, forestry on its own cannot sustainably satisfy the demand for woody biomass. Short-Rotation Coppice (SRC) represents a possible alternative production system where fast-growing tree species are cultivated on agricultural land. Thus far, lacking engagement from farmers and public opposition against other bioenergy projects have hindered the expansion of SRC. At the same time, society does not consider wood unconditionally sustainable anymore. The Social License to Operate (SLO) describes the dynamic relationship between industries, their communities, and other stakeholders. The present study adapted a quantitative SLO model based on integrative socio-psychological relationship modelling and applied it to a case study in Slovakia. The roles of trust, fairness, impact assessment, and governance hold for the establishment of social acceptance were analysed with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The model revealed the perception of individual benefits as the strongest predictor for social acceptance. The average level of social acceptance was found to be between “Acceptance” and “Approval”. The results thus show that SRC currently must not face societal pressure in Slovakia. However, the SLO is not static and must be constantly re-evaluated